Contact interrupter



L. v. H. M. GHYS E AL 3,378,655

A ril 16, 1968 CONTACT INTERRUPTER 3 SheetsSheet 1 Filed April 10, 1967 In0entor L.V.H.M. GHYS OSE.C. LEYSSENS Atey April 16, 1968 L. v- H. M. GHYS ET L 3,378,655

' CONTACT INTERRUPTER Filed April 10. 1967 3 Sheets-Sheet April 16, 1968 L. v. H. M. GHYS ET A 3,378,655

CONTACT INTERRUPTER Fiied April 10. 1967 3 Shets-Sheet 5 I nuenlor L.V.H.M. G HYS F.C. LEYSSE NS United States Patent 3,378,655 CONTACT INTERRUPTER Lodewijk Viktor Hendrik Maria Ghys, Edegem, and Franc0is Jeanne Charles Leyssens, Borgerhout, Belgium, assignars to International Standard Electrie Corporation, New York, N.Y., a corporation of Delaware Filed Apr. 10, 1967, Ser. No. 629,528 Claims priority, application Netherlands, Apr. 14, 1966, 66-4,966 7 Claims. (Cl. 200-16) The present invention relates to a contact interrupter, e.g. for printed circuits.

Such a contact interrupter is known from the US. Patent 3,188,435.

However, the above known contact interrupter is suitable only for keysending and the like.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved and simple contact interrupter which has a general application field.

The present contact intermpter is characterized by the fact, that it includes, an insulated support having a central longitudinal part extending between a first and a second end part, a fixed contact member located in said firstend part, a substantially- F-shaped conductive piece having its parallel legs spring biased, and an insulated switchng means, said F-shaped piece being housed in said support, so that one of said parallel legs rests against one side of said central part whereas the other parallel leg which constitutes the movable contact member is at a certain distance from the other side of said central part and has its free end normally resting against said fixed contact member or removed therefrom under the action of said switching means.

The above and other objects and features of the invention Will become more apparent and the invention itself Will be best understood by referring to the following description of embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 schematically shows a contact interrupter in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is an upper plan view of the insulated housing of the contact interrupter of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the axis IIIIII of FIG. 2;

FIGS. 4 and 5 are two side views of a contact member of the contact interrupter of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 6 and 7 are two side views of the other contact member of the contact interrupter of FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 is a bottom plan view of the contact member of FIGS. 6 and 7;

FIG. 9 shows a spring piece associated to the contact member of FIGS. 6 t0 8 in the contact interrupter of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 10 and 11 represent two side views of a sleeve making part of the contact interrupter of FIG. 1.

Referring to the accompanying figures and especially to FIG. 1, the contact interrupter 1 shown therein is constituted by the following parts: an insulated support 6, two fiat contact members 2 and 3, a spring piece 4 for biassing the contact member 2, and an insulated sleeve 5 enabling the switchng of the contact to the ON and OFF conditions. The contact members 2 and 3 are made of Phosphor bronze alloy and carry a silver-gold plating to perform a good contact conductance. The contact member 3 (FIGS. 4, 5) which constitntes the fixed contact member of the contact interrupter 1, is substantially J-shaped and has its curved part 23 and a part of its straight 1eg adjacent to the curved part 23, broader than the remaining part of the straight leg. A tongue 18 is out from the broad straight part of the member 3 and 3,378,655 Patented Apr. 16, 1968 is bent at a certain angle around the plan thereof in such a way, that when the member 3 is housed in the hole 19 of the insulated support 6, the edge of the curved part 23 rests against a surface 21 of the support 6, whereas the edge of the tongue 18 rests against a recess 20 of the housing hole 19 (FIGS. 2 and 3), thus performing the fastening of the fixed member 3 to the insulated support 6. The movable contact member 2 (FIGS. 6 to 8) is F-shaped, its upper and lower parallel legs being indicated by the references 7 and 8 respectively, and the other leg by the reference 9. The upper and lower legs 7 and 8 fork shaped towards their free ends by having two respective central slots 10 and 11. The part of the leg 9 which is comprised between the parallel legs 7 and 8 carries also a slot 12. FIGURE 9 shows the spring piece 4 to bias the movable contact member 2. This spring piece 4 is substantially Ushaped with its parallel U legs 16 and 17 at a same distance from each other as that of the parallel legs 7 and 8 of the contact member 2. The spring piece 4 carries three proturberamces 13, 14 and 15 which enable its fastening to the contact member 2. Indeed, when the bias spring 4 is assembled to the contact member 2, as it is shown in FIG. 1, the spring legs 16 and 17 rest along the respective legs 7 and 8 of the contact member 2 and the above proturberances 13, 14 and 15 corne into the corresponding slots 10, 11 and 12.

The sleeve 5 shown in FIGS. 10 and 11 has a central hollow part 23 of cross-shaped cross section and a nose 24 at its lower part. When the movable contact member 2 carrying its biassing spring 4, is housed in the support 6 by being introduced from the left end thereof, the movable contact armature, constituted by the leg 7 of contact member 2, and its associated leg 16 of spring 4, are passed through the hollow part 23 of sleeve 5. The lower leg 8 of the F-shaped member 2 and its associated leg 17 of spring 4, rest against the lower fiat part of the insulated support 6 and the proturberance 14 of leg 17 is engaged into a corresponding recess 22 of support 6 for securing purpose. When the sleeve 5 assumes the position shown in FIG. 1, i.e. when it is slid to the left end et support 6, the nose 24 of sleeve 5 comes into a corresponding recess 25 (FIGS. 2 and 3) on the upper central part of support 6, so that it does not exert any action on contact member 2 and consequently the movable armature 7 of the spring biassed member 2 rests against the curved part 23 of the fixed contact member 3. When the sleeve 5 is slid to the right end et support 6, its nose 24 cornes out from the recess 25 et support 26, so that sleeve 5 pushes the movable armature 7 away from the above curved part 23 of the fixed contact member 3 and thus the contact is opened.

The connection of the contact interrupter 1 with externa1 circuits (net shown) is performed through the terminal parts of the contact members 2 and 3, which extend below the lower side of insulated support 6 (FIG. 1). For instance the above interrupter may be mounted on a printed circuit board and the above two terminal parts be soldered to two respective printed conductors of the board.

While the principles of the invention have been described above in connection With specific apparatus, it is to be clearly understood that this description is made only by way of example and not as a limitation on the scope of the invention.

We claim:

1. Contact interrupter, e g. for printed circuits, char acterized in this, that it includes, an insulated support having a central longitudinal part extending between a first and a second end part, a fixed contact member located in said first end part, a substantially F-shaped conductive piece having its parallel legs spring biased, and an insulated switching means, said F-shaped piece being housed in said support so that one of said parallel legs rests against one side of said central part whereas the other parallel leg which constitutes the movable contact member is at a certain distance from the other side of central part and has its free end normally resting against said fixed contact member or removed therefrom under the action of said switching means.

22. Contact interrupter as claimed in claim 1, characterized in this, that said switching means is constituted by a sleeve through which passes said movable contact member, and that said sleeve and the adjacent other side of said central part are so shaped that when said sleeve is near said second part it floats around said movable contact member allowing it to rest against said fixed contact member, whereas when sliding towards said first end part it deflects said movable contact member out of contact With said fixed contact member.

3. Contact interrupter as claimed in claim 1, characterized in this, that the parallel legs of said Fshaped piece are spring biased through a substantially Ushaped spring member clipped on the parallel legs of said F- shaped piece as well as on the leg between them and with one of the parallel Ubranches passing through said sleeve together With the associated F-branch.

4. Contact interrupter as claimed in claim 3, characlterized in this, that said Ushaped spring member comprises a nurnber of fixing proturberances engaged in corresponding slots of said F-shaped piece.

5. Contact interrupter as claimed in claim 4, characterized in this, that said one side of said central longitudinal part of said insulated support carries at least one slot into which clips a corresponding fixing proturberance of said spring member.

6. Contact interrupter as claimed in claim 1, characterized in this, that said fixed contact member is constituted by a J-shaped conductive piece, the contact surface being constituted by the curved surface part of said J- shaped piece.

7. Contact interrupter as claimed in claim 2 charac terized in this, that said sleeve has a nose part engaged in a corresponding recess in said central part when said sleeve is near said second end part.

References Cited UN ITED STATES PATENTS 2,562,420 7/1951 Furnas ZOO-16.1 3,221,115 11/1965 Feher 200-16.1

ROBERT K. SCHAEFER, Primary Examiner. H. BURKS, Assistant Examiner. 

1. CONTACT INTERRUPTER, EG. FOR PRINTED CIRCUITS, CHARACTERIZED IN THIS, THAT IT INCLUDES, AN INSULATED SUPPORT HAVING A CENTRAL LONGITUDINAL PART EXTENDING BETWEEN A FIRST AND A SECOND END PART, A FIXED CONTACT MEMBER LOCATED IN SAID FIRST END PART, A SUBSTANTIALLY F-SHAPED CONDUCTIVE PIECE HAVING ITS PARALLEL LEGS SPRING BIASED, AND AN INSULATED SWITCHING MEANS, SAID F-SHAPED PIECE BEING HOUSED IN SAID SUPPORT SO THAT ONE OF SAID PARALLEL LEGS RESTS AGAINST ONE SIDE OF SAID CENTRAL PART WHEREAS THE OTHER PARALLEL LEG WHICH CONSTITUTES THE MOVABLE CONTACT MEMBER IS AT A CERTAIN DISTANCE FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF CENTRAL PART AND HAS ITS FREE END NORMALLY RESTING AGAINST SAID FIXED CONTACT MEMBER OR REMOVED THEREFROM UNDER THE ACTION OF SAID SWITCHING MEANS. 